Q. I read that Best Buy was selling a Vizio 55-inch OLED TV for $899. That’s incredible, but my question is whether the Vizio OLED TV is as good as the LG OLED TV. Is there a big difference in quality which is why the price is lower? — Steve, Marina Del Rey, California. 

Steve, Best Buy yesterday did sell a Vizio 55-inch, 4K OLED TV for just $899, and a 65-inch OLED TV 4K for $1,499. The prices were good if you are a ‘My Best Buy’ member (you can sign up for free.). However, I have to inform you that the sale is over. The 55-inch model is now $1,299 at Best Buy while the 65-inch Vizio OLED now costs $1,799.

But those are still good prices for an OLED TV. LG normally charges a few hundred dollars more for comparably-sized OLED sets, although you can now get a 55-inch one for $1,196. (Link is an Amazon affiliate link; this site receives a small percentage of sales from Amazon links.)

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Still, the lower prices raises the question of whether a Vizio OLED TV is as good as LG’s OLEDs. (Sony also sells OLED TVs in the United States while Philips and Panasonic sell them in Europe.)

Reviewed.com, which reviews televisions and other electronics, thinks so. The site wrote this last month:

“In recent years, Vizio has earned its reputation as a trustworthy purveyor of both budget-friendly and top-tier TVs alike. Given the rise of OLED TVs and the critical acclaim of models from LG and Sony, it’s not surprising to see Vizio jump in. Like most OLED TVs we’ve tested over the years, Vizio’s first OLED TV is—somewhat predictably—a triumph of display technology. Perfect black levels, rich color reproduction, and silky-smooth motion handling are just some of the TV’s highlights, making it a clear competitor to LG’s most affordable OLED TV series, the BX.”

And Rtings.com, another electronics review site, had this to say about the Vizio 55-inch and 65-inch OLED models:

“The Vizio OLED 2020 is the first OLED TV Vizio has released and delivers impressive overall performance. Like any OLED TV, its ability to turn off individual pixels results in an infinite contrast ratio and perfect black uniformity. It displays an excellent color gamut for HDR content, but it doesn’t get very bright in HDR, and large areas get significantly dimmer. Most gamers should appreciate the 120Hz refresh rate, near-instant response time, and low input lag. It’s advertised to have variable refresh rate (VRR) support, but it doesn’t work at all and there’s screen tearing. The TV has a unique center-mounted stand that’s designed to hold the Vizio Elevate soundbar. Sadly, the screen has the risk of permanent burn-in, which is typical of OLEDs, and our unit has noticeable temporary image retention, but this may vary between units.”

Those are fairly impressive recommendations, which would suggest if the Vizio OLED price drops again to under $1,000, it would be a steal.

Steve, hope that helps. Happy viewing, and stay safe!

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— Phillip Swann